UAE expat population grows to 90 percent

The lines of identity in the UAE have further blurred as reports reveal foreign expatriates now make up almost 90 percent of the United Arab Emirate’s population.

Over the last few years expatriates have built up their numbers in UAE, despite financial downturns affecting the economy. The current population of the UAE stands at around 8.26 million, and foreigners make up an exact figure of 88.5 percent.

This phenomenal amount of expats is due to the mass influx over the last few years of skilled professional workers into the UAE over the last few years.

However, this has now led to concern amongst natives of the UAE who feel that big social problems may arise if this trend continues. The UAE is a proud country with strong Muslim values and laws, the problem with an influx of foreigners is that they often find it difficult to fully cope with the laws, and as their population grows the national identity can become blurred.

Yet despite these concerns expats are still in high demand amongst UAE employers, however this also poses problems. Another concern is that unemployment among UAE natives is rising, which is again a problem that is not helped by hordes of foreign workers.